Solyndra layoffs significantly larger than previously reported

Documents show nearly 1,900 people lost their jobs as solar panel maker closed

On the day it closed, Solyndra said it was laying off 1,100 full-time and temporary employees.

But 1,861 workers lost their jobs as the solar panel manufacturer shut its doors, according to U.S. Labor Department documents provided to The Bay Citizen under the Freedom of Information Act.

The documents also show the Fremont-based company increased production in 2011, even though it failed to sell all the panels it made the previous year.

By the time it closed last August, Solyndra had an unsold inventory of more than 23 megawatts – enough solar panels to power about 23,000 homes.

Analysts said the revelations are likely to add new fuel to the partisan fire surrounding the demise of Solyndra, which received a $535 million federal loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2009.

“Information like this represents a great deal of ammunition for Romney and his allies,” said Dan Schnur, a former Republican political consultant who now runs the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California